Inspired by Soulmate Shorts by Ozhawk
If you haven't gone and read her shorts, you should. She has all kinds of pairings and its all marked so you can pick and chose what you want to read! On top of that, any of the pairings that she isn't going to continue herself, she's encouraging others to continue.
I loved the Jemma/Steve one and she gave me permission to continue it and is beta-ing it for me. Thank you Ozhawk!
*** For anyone reading Avenging Arrow... I just sent three chapters to be beta'd. I'll have an update posted soon!
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Chapter 1 A Very Eloquent Speech By Ozhawk
**This first chapter is Written by Ozhawk so if the Style seems different than my usual, that's why. I'm continuing it from chapter 2 forward. (See Notes Above) It should be about 5-6 chapters.
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Chapter 1: Jemma/Steve Rogers (BioCaptain(?))
"Erskine's research was groundbreaking and it's a tragedy that he was so secretive, that his work has never been replicated."
"I disagree," Jemma said flatly.
The head researcher of the military research laboratory turned and gave her a condescending look. "And you would be..?"
"Jemma Simmons, S.H.I.E.L.D.," she said calmly, meeting his eyes fearlessly, despite hearing the sudden whispers around her. It was a small, select group that had received the invitation to examine the remains of the Centipede laboratory equipment. Jemma was only on the invite list because of the examinations and tests she'd done on Mike Peterson.
"Obviously the Centipede program was yet another flawed attempt," the researcher said, "but would you care to explain, Ms. Simmons…"
"Doctor Simmons," she corrected politely. "And yes, certainly, I'll tell you why I believe it's a good thing Erskine's serum has never been replicated. Erskine said it himself. It makes the good, better, and the bad, worse. Despite his physical limitations – or perhaps because of them – Steve Rogers was inherently a good person. The process that led to his being chosen was exhaustive, and a lot of people at the time disagreed with Erskine's ultimate choice."
Everyone was listening intently to Jemma's words. A tall man close by, wearing a baseball cap pulled down to shade his face, was staring hard at her. She ignored him and continued.
"But what if the wrong man had been chosen? Steve Rogers was willing to sacrifice himself to stop the Valkyrie bombings. How many other men would be – and how could anyone be sure? We saw the results with Centipede, and that was effectively a cheap knockoff version of the serum. Could we really take the risk of having multiple versions of Captain America running around without his moral code, his beliefs of right and wrong?" Jemma fell silent for a moment, and then shrugged. "It worked once, and frankly, we got lucky with the result. I for one am glad that we aren't rolling the dice, taking the risk of creating super-humans who can't be matched or stopped, because no one can know the deepest corners of someone else's heart."
It was very quiet for a moment, and then the tall man applauded. The lab head had seemed about to say something, but instead he looked away with a sniff and gestured the group to follow him. Jemma was about to trail after them when the tall man put a hand on her arm to stay her.
"That was a very eloquent speech, ma'am."
Jemma stared in surprise for a moment. She'd been seeing those exact words all her life, written in an elegant, old-fashioned script along the inside of her left arm. Well. How lovely. It seemed her soulmate was a fellow scientist, otherwise he wouldn't be here. He even shared her taste in conservative clothing, looking at his chinos, white T-shirt and smart navy sport coat. Rather gorgeous, too – she couldn't see the colour of his hair under his cap but he had a very handsome face and broad shoulders, tapering to a waist barely bigger than her own.
Lucky me, Jemma thought, and then realised she hadn't spoken back. She smiled rather shyly. "Thank you very much. You have an interest in the subject?"
He blinked stupidly long lashes over lovely blue eyes. "You might say that. Uh… are you… is this your writing?" He stepped forward and pulled up his white T-shirt to reveal a ridiculously well-muscled stomach, Jemma's neat handwriting printed across his six-pack.
"Yes," she smiled nervously. "Um – Jemma Simmons."
Steve smiled down at her, thinking he'd definitely lucked out in the soulmate department. Doctor Simmons was very pretty, very clever – and she had that English accent that did strange things to his insides. He'd always been a sucker for pretty, decisive English chicks, he thought derisively. He'd never had a soulmate mark in the old days, but her words had been etched into his stomach when he woke from his long sleep.
"Yes, I heard that." He smiled, let his shirt drop – shame, it had been quite a view – and held out his hand. "I'm Steve Rogers."